Machine for wrapping cigars with protective material



@QL 9, 1934- H. H. WHEELER 99759l3 MACHI FOR WRAPPING CIGARS WITH PROTECTIVE MATERIAL 16 Sheets-Sheet l /l w m@ w MSN I EN EEN l l N iw N o 1|...||1| m|% .1 -I N 1 l l I l 1 l 1 l l l u 1| i. a V n www |i E I n.. ll@ i www NNN N n l lllllllllllllllllllllHHUlldl |||1| HHHNIIHH .Hl IHU @ENR 4| .AN l ,/NNWN d NN m. QR MN. In wm r... EN i# ww SN Sw mu x En. I .1 E A di .xm mm NN Mm f ATTORNEYS 9, 1934. H H. WHEELER Lg7593 MACHINE FOR WRAPPING CIGARS WITH PROTECTIVE'MATERIAL Filed June 30, 1931 16 Sheets-Sheet 2 |NvENToR- ATTORNEY S A,

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MACHINE FOR WRAPPING CIGA'RS WITH PROTECTIVE MATERIAL Filed June 30, 1951 16 Sheets-Sheet 4 Irl ATTORNEY S H. AH. WHEELER Filed June 30, 1931 16 Sheets-Sheefl 5A lNv'ENToR y Hman. www

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MACHINE FOR WRAPPING .cIGARs WITH PROTECTIVE MATERIAL Oct. 9, 1934. WHEELER 1,975,913

MACHINE FOR WRAPPING CIGARS WITH PROTECTIVE MATERIAL Filed June 3o, 1951 16 sheets-sheet 6 ATTQRNEYS Oct. 9, 1934. H H. WHEELER 1,975,913

MACHINE FOR WRAPPING CIGARS WITH PROTECTIVE MATERIAL Filed June 30, 1951 16 Sheets-Sheet 7.

im INVENTOR BY Cuyp, Kw @WLM A'rroRNEYs Oct. 9, 1934.` H H. WHEELER MACHINE FOR WRAPPING CIGARS WITH PROTECTIVE MATERIAL Filed June :50, 1951 16 sheets-sheets NTQR BY C009, Www- QWJW INVE ATTORNEYS Oct. 9,'1934. H. H. WHEELER 1,975,913

MACHINE FOR WRAPPING CIGARS WITH vPROTEC'IIIVE MATERIAL Filed June 5o, 1951 ie sheetssheet 9.

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MACHINE FOR WRAPPING CIGARS WITH PROTECTIVE MATERIAL Filed June 30, 1931 16 Sheets-Sheet 10 'zuig' mi NIMH MIF@ lNfvENToR ATTORNEYS CL 9, 1934. H. H. WHEELER MACHINE FOR WRAPPING CIGARS WITH PROTECTIVE MATERIAL Filed June so, 1931 16 sheets-sheet 11 ru rl r INVENTR' f. BY I AfrToRNEYS Oct. 9, 1934.` H. H. WHEELER 1,975,913A

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H. H. WHEELER MACHINE FOR WRAPPING CIGARS WITH PROTECTIVE MATERIAL Filed June 30, 1931 16 Sheets-Sheet 14 @c 9, T934. H, H. WHEELER MACHINE FOR WRAPPING CIGARS WITH PROTECTIVE MATERIAL Filed June 50, 1951 16 Sheets-Sheet l 5 HWABY u. w1. u@

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INVENTQR A'ITQRNEYS 5 and similar wrapping materials.

D' Cellophane Patented Oct. 9, 1934 UNTED STATES PATENT` OFFCE MACHINE FOR WRAPPING CIGARS WITH PROTECTIVE MATERIAL Henry H. Wheeler, Brooklyn,

N. Y., assigner' to Application June 30, 1931, Serial No. 547,903

8 Claims.

This invention relates to machines for Wrapping cigars and the like with protective material of various kinds, including Cellophane, other cellulosic substances in flexible sheet form,

As Will be understood, such cigar Wrappings should not only be attractive in appearance but protective in nature, serving among other objects, those of keeping the cigar from drying out, of shielding it from dirt, dust, undue moisture, cracking, breakage or other injury likely to occur before ultimate use, and of thus maintaining it in a fresh, pure, and sanitary condition. Materials such as tin foil or paper foil, although ineicient in serving these objects, have in the past been widely used for wrappings, since they may be readily rolled or squeezed into a conforming covering about the cigar; but it has been found that much superior wrappings may be made from Cellophane and similar substances, by reason of their toughness, durability, cheapness, pleasing appearance, and other desirable characteristics.

Such sheet materials, however, of which is herein taken as an example, have a resilient nature not characteristic of tin foil or paper foil; more particularly is this true of the advantageously heavier and more durable grades of Cellophane or the like. Thus on folding Cellophane to make a complete wrapping, the folds should be firmly and sharply made, in the manner of definite creases,-else the Cellophane will sooner or later unfold, and the wrapping become injuriously loosened,- and a light, momentary pressure suitable tol crumple foil, for example, Will crease Cellophane properly. For that and other reasons, available machines adapted to roll or squeeze materials such as tin foil into cigar coverings do not operate efliciently when used for applying a Cellophane wrapping.

Use of the lighter or poorer grades of Cellophane not only fails to obviate these difliculties eectively, but at the same time furnishes a, less desirable covering for the cigar. On the other hand, if a tubular Wrapping of the material is merely creased over crossvviseA at one or both ends to enclose the cigar, somewhat in the manner of an ordinary paper bag, the loose nature of .such a Wrapping will be conducive to tearing or breaking of the material, and in this and other respects such a wrapping will fall short of completely preserving and protecting the found desirable that a cigar. It has thus been Cellophane Wrapping be firmly folded about the cigar and in conformity with the rounded not suffice to ends of the latter as Well as with its mid-portion; such a Wrapping not only protects and preserves the cigar more efficiently, but presents a neater and more attractive appearance than other Wrappings. @9

Accordingly, an important object of this invention is the provision of a wrapping machine for cigars which will provide each cigar with a protective covering of Cellophane or the like firmly folded about it, and in the operation of which all danger of injury to the cigar Will be minimized. It is likewise an object to provide such a machine to cover cigars with Cellophane or the like permanently folded into substantial conformity with the outer surface vof the cigar, in- '70 cluding one or both ends of the latter; a further object being to provide a machine of that nature, which in folding a wrapping of Cellophane or the like about a cigar, Will impart a positive crease-like nature to the folds of the Wrapping material; and it is particularly an object to provide a machine effectively accomplishing these and other ends with any grade or quality of Cellophane or the like.

Another object of the invention is to provide a machine of the related class, Which may operate automatically, and at the same time with a high degree of efficiency and rapidity, to rap cigars With any desired material.

Yet another object is the provision of a machine of the class described having advantageous means for feeding cellophane to its folding members, hereby possible breakage and Waste of such material is obviated; it is likewise an object to provide in such a machine efficient means for accurately feeding the Cellophane from a continuously rotating reel of the same, and alsoy to provide satisfactory means for guiding the Cellophane to a knife or other cutting arrangement which severs a measured quantity of the ma- 95 terial for each cigar Wrapping, as Well as to provide Cellophane guiding means which automatically and positively cooperates with the knife to insure emcient action by the latter.

A further object of the invention is the provi sion, in a machine of the class stated, of arrangements for effectively and accurately positioning each severed quantity of Cellophane with respect to the cigar for which it is intended, whereby regular, complete, and uniform Wrapping maybe accomplished.

Another object rests in the provision of such a machine having means for surely and accurately positioning or aligning the cigars as they 11 are fed to the Cellophane folding members, so

that, for instance, folds of the wrapping material may be made close to the ends of the cigar without danger of breaking the latter, whereby a more satisfactory and economical wrapping is obtained.

A still further object is to provide, in a machine of the type described, conveying means which may not only serve to carry the cigar through the various folding operations and to assist in maintaining the folded cellophane in place about the cigar, but may actively cooperate in highly emcient manner with one or more of the folding or creasing parts to effect satisfactory wrapping of the cigar; likewise to provide such conveying means which may desirably cooperate with means for sealing the Cellophane wrappings to produce a thorough and uniform seal of the same, and which may also serve to deliver the completely wrapped cigars automatically to such banding, packaging, or other apparatus as may be used, or to any appropriate receptacle. It is also an object of the invention to provide means which may be cooperatingly associated with such conveying means or the like for effectively removing the cigars from the latter for delivery as mentioned, without, for example, danger of injuring the cigar and/r its wrapping.

Other objects include the provision, in such machines, of an enicient arrangement for sealing the wrapping about the cigar as, for instance, by heat, and of such an arrangement which may readily serve to seal the wrapping not only along the body of the cigar but also at the'ends thereof in more thorough and satisfactory manner than hitherto possible; the provision of means for positively and automatically removing the sealing means from operative condition when the machine is otherwise out of operation, whereby, among other advantages, all danger of burning the cigars and/or their wrappings by the heat-sealing means is obviated; and the provision of desirable combinations of driving, folding, and other parts whereby accurate timing of the various parts, fool-proof operation of the latter throughout, reduction of wear and tear,

and manifold economies of power and other 0p-V erative factors may result. To these ends and such others as may hereinafter appear or are incident thereto, the invention comprises the novel features and combinations hereinafter described.

One specific form of the invention is embodied in the machine illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the machine;

Fig. 2 is a plan and sectional view along line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. S-A is an enlarged View of certain clutch parts of Fig. 3;

Figs. S-B and 3-D B-B-B-B of Fig. 3-A;

Fig. 3-C is a View similar to Fig. S-A with parts cut away, at another stage of operation;

Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical section on line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4-A is a transverse vertical section on line 4-A-4-A of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 1?. is a horizontal section on line 4-B- 4-B of Fig. 3;

Figs. 5-22 inclusive are enlarged views of parts of the machine, and among them:

Fig. 5 is a vertical section of the Cellophane are sections on line feeding and tubular wrapping parts of the machine, on line 5 5 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is an horizontal section, on line 6 6 of Fig. l, showing operation of the cigar positioning means;

Fig. 7 is a side elevation, partly in section on line v7 7 of Fig. 2, showing operation of the Cellophane positioning means;

Figs. 8, 9, and 10 are elevational views, in the plane of Fig. 7, showing successive stages of operation of the tubular wrapping mechanism;

Figs. 11, l2, 13, and 14 are vertical sections, substantially along line 11-11 of Fig. 2, with certain parts cut away, showing successive stages of operation of the end-folding mechanism;

Figs'. l5 through 22 are side views of the mechanism of Figs. 11 through 14, showing successive operational stages of the latter; Fig. 15 being a section on line 15-15 of Fig. 11; Fig. 16 is a section on line 16-16 of Fig. 11; Fig. 17 a section on line 17-17 of Fig. l2; Figs. 18 and 19 sections on lines 18-18 and 19-19 respectively of Fig. 13,' Fig.20 a view in the plane of Figs. 16-18, showing another operational stage; Figs. 21 and 22 sections on lin-es 21-21 and 22-22 respectively of Fig. 14.

Figs. 23, 24, and 25 are successive stages of folding an end of the cigar.

Figs. 26 and 27 are transverse vertical sections of the runway folder parts of the machine, on lines 26-26 and 2'7-27 respectively of Fig. 2.

Figs. 28 and 28-A are enlarged horizontal sec tions on line 28-28 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 29 is an enlarged plan view of a conveyor chain pocket;

Figs. 25J-A and 29-B show a cigar removing operation of certain parts of Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that the operative parts of the particular machine there iilustrated are mounted upon and within suitable supporting members comprising a horizontal table 30 secured on upright walls 31a, 3112. The operative parts so mounted include the several means and cooperating structures for folding the Cellophane about thev cigars, and for feeding both Cellophane and cigars thereto, a conveyor arrangement for effectuating the operation of the folding means on the cigars and for delivering the wrapped cigars, and other related means, as well as associated driving mechanism for actuating the means just mentioned.

perspective views of Cellophane about Driving mechanism This driving mechanism is disposed as shown in Figs. 2-5, especially including the sectional views of Figs. 4-A and 4-B. A drive shaft 32, supplied with power through clutch means hereinafter described, carries a pinion 33 meshing with gear 34 on .a main cam shaft 35. For driving portions of the feed mechanisms, a shaft 36, conveniently disposed at right angles to the drive and cam shafts and mounted in suitable bearingssupported by wall 31h, is driven by a bevel gear 37 meshing with a bevel gear 38 on cam shaft 35, the ratio of these gears being unity. This feed driving shaft 36 carries a sprocket wheel 39 coupled by a continuous` chain 40 to a sprocket wheel 41 on a shaft 42, which is ro-tatably mounted at the level of table 36 and near wall 31b,.for driving the continuous Cellophane rolls, as hereinafter described. A countershaft 43 for the feed mechanisms is disposed adjacent shaft 42 and is rotated 60 once every revolution of the latter shaft by means of intermittent gearreel 98 for accurate unrolling of the Cellophane, shaft 97 is adjustable lengthwise on its journals, such adjustment being effected by an adjusting screw 100 threaded into support 93 with a suitable lock-nut and carrying at its inner end a disc 101 engaging a circumferential groove 102 in shaft 97.

A web or strip of "Cellophane 103 is fed continuously from reel 93 by co-operating feed rolls 104, 105, roll being mounted on continuous Cellophane feed shaft 42, which rotates as hereinabove described, and roll 104 being disposed above roll 105 and suitably geared to the latter. From these rolls the web then passes up over an idler roll 106, journalled in a pair of upright supports 107, down under a loop-tautening compensator roll 103, which is rotatably mounted in vertical slots in the uprights 107, and up over another idler roll 109 likewise journalled in the uprights as shown. The webl is then fed through intermittent feed rolls 110, 111 conveniently arranged like rolls 104, 105, roll 111 being driven intermittently by intermittent Cellophane feed shaft 47 on which it is mounted, and each move- .rent of the latter being adapted to feed a predetermined ainount of Cellophane toward the wrapping mechanism. Each of the upper rolls 104, is mounted in bearings adjustably adapted to give it a desirable pressure against its cooperating driven feed roll, as seen in Fig. 4-A.

As shown in the drawings, the arrangement of these parts of the Cellophane feed mechanism is conveniently such that the web 103 is fed across the table at right angles to the path followed by the cigars 70 toward the wrapping mechanism. So fed from the intermittent rolls 110, 111, the web is guided through a horizontal covered slide 112, of which the further portion 113, disposed adjacent the wrapping mechanism, has a hinge at its end away from the latter mechanism, so that the portion 113 may swing downwardly from its normal level position; a spring 1136i being provider. to restore the portion to the latter position when displaced therefrom, Wrapping block 92 is provided with a horizontal slot 115, which together with the nearby upper fiat surfaces of guard walls 80a, 81a, serves to receive the web of Cellophane fed thereto from the slide 112. Between the latter and block 92 are disposed respectively movable knife 116 and stationary cutting member 117, adapted to cooperate with each other to cut off a strip of cellophane 103e of the predetermined length advanced intermittently by rolls, 110, 111; the movable knife 116 being in the form of an arm, secured at one end to a shaft 118 through block 92 as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 5.

By reason of the self-restoring hinged construction of slide portion 113, as will now be understood, the Cellophane web 103 is not only accurately guided up to the knife, but it automatically lifted back into position for its succeeding advancement, after any displacement of it caused by the knife stroke, while at the same time it is effectively freed from any undesirable adhesion to the stationary cutting member 117.

To the opposite end of knife shaft 113 is secured cam-lever 119, which extends downwardly through a suitable aperture in table 30, and has at its lower end a roller 120 engaging a suitable knife box cam 121 on main cam shaft 35 (see Figs. 3, 4, 4-A and B), whereby lever 119 is intermittently rocked to operate knife 116 once for each revolution of the cam shaft. At a suitable point on lever 119 there is also pivoted a link 122, the latter in turn being pivoted to the lower arm of bell-crank lever 89, whereby the rocking of lever 119 is transmitted to impart the desired periodic reciprocating motion to cigar positioner plate 86.

Tubular wrapping cmd conveyor With the cigar 70a in the position shown in Fig. 7, it is now ready for operation of the mechanism adapted to fold the sheet 103e of "Cellophane into a tubular wrapping about it. As shown, for example, in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 7, there are disposed on suitable brackets above guard walls 80a, 31a, upright members 123, 124. Journalled through the lower portion of these upright members is a shaft 125 carrying midway between the members a pinion 126 and having at its outer end a lever arm 127, the latter being connected by a suitable link 128 to an arm 129 adapted to be periodically reciprocated in a vertical direction as hereinafter described. Below the shaft 125 there is disposed for horizontal motion above the guard walls 80a, 81a, a Cellophane positioner plate 130, which has on its upper surface racks 131, engaged by the pinion 126. This plate 130 has a vertical face 132 disposed opposite the vertical wall of wrapping block 92, whereby a vertical channel is formed therewith. The under side of plate 130 adjacent its face 132 has a horizontal recess 133 as shown, conveniently of such character thatV in cooperation with the upper surface of the guard walls a slot will be provided for receiving Cellophane strip 1030 similar to the slot 115 in the wrapping block.

At the upper extremity of upright members 123, 124, sprocket wheel shaft 57d is rotatably mounted, these members thus serving to support the wheel as hereinabove described. As also explained, this sprocket wheel operates conveyor chain 56, which may be of well-known construction and which has at suitable intervals along its length cigareholding pockets 134. These pockets 134 comprise an angular member 135 and a movable clamping member 136, disposed sidewise 0f the chain and conveniently having a length somewhat shorter than the parallel-sided portion of cigars 70. These pockets are adapted to firmly grasp one of the cigars 70, the clamping wall 13el being pivoted at 137, 137, to member 135 (see Fig. 29), connected by links 138e, 1331) to the latter and held in firm engagement with it by means of a suitable spring as shown.

As hereinabove explained, conveyor chain 55 is advanced intermittently, and the disposition of cigar pockets 134 on the chain is such that when at rest one of the pockets will always be disposed directly over the plungers 90. Referring more particularly to Figs. 3 and 7 through 10, it will be seen that an arm carrying at its lower end a sharp-edged folder plate 141, the upper surface of which is normally iush with the upper surface of wrapping block 92, is rotatably carried by shaft 57a on the outer side of upright 124. A similar arm 142 (not shown) also rotatably carried by the shaft 57a on the opposite side of upright 123,

carries at its corresponding lower extremity the other end of folder plate 141, the latter thus extending transversely of the mechanism in a horizontal direction, and serving to connect the two folder arms 140, 142, whereby displacement of one will equally displace the other at the same time. To rock the arms thus simultaneously, for moving folder plate 141 out of its normal position (Fig. 9, for instance) to the left as shown in 8, there is secured to arm 142 at its upperl end a 

